Originally, Santana simply fused his Latin influences with the jam-heavy sound of West Coast rock. The first album, and the Woodstock performance of 'Soul Sacrifice,' were largely responsible for hundreds of bands adding congas to their lineups (including the Rolling Stones on 'Can You Hear Me Knocking'). The original Santana had more hits than any future incarnation, usually with arrangements of outside material (Fleetwood Mac's 'Black Magic Woman,' Olatunji's 'Jingo,' Tito Puente's 'Oye Como Va,' Willie Bobo's 'Evil Ways'). The one major departure came in 1972, when Santana took a hint from his friend and occasional collaborator, John McLaughlin, and headed in a spiritually-inclined jazz/fusion direction. The albums in this vein (1972's Caravanserai, 1973's Welcome and 1974's Borboletta) were the band's most adventurous. Beginning with 1976's Amigos, he kept stretching out instrumentally, but filtered in some mainstream rock and dance elements and has maintained that mix ever since.

For years, Santana released a lot of music--usually an album every year either under the band's name or his own (the two are pretty much interchangeable). As a result, there were many good Santana albums, but few definitive ones. (Some of his most creative works--the R&B-flavored Havana Moon and the jazz-oriented The Swing Of Delight--came out as 'Carlos Santana' albums). Neither he nor the band had a major hit since 'Winning' (from the mainstream-slanted album Zebop!) in 1981, but his reputation hinged on live shows, where there was still an emphasis on improvs and where it was still a safe bet that he'd hit upon something brilliant. If nothing else, he deserved credit as one of the few 'classic rock' acts that was not satisfied to go onstage and play the oldies.